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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24041290">Always There to Protect</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nico_Nii/pseuds/Nico_Nii'>Nico_Nii</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hyperdimension Neptunia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Almost death, Fighting, Mild Hurt/Comfort</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:06:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,382</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24041290</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nico_Nii/pseuds/Nico_Nii</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A mysterious monster finds its way to the heart of Lastation without anyone knowing.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Always There to Protect</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was something I just kind of made up, I tried to stick as close to canon things as I could haha</p>
<p>I also didn’t really go through a lot and check for grammar errors or misspelling :p</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A low deep rumble of thunder woke Uni from her sleep. Her eyes shot open and she brought the blankets higher up to her chin. She always hated thunderstorms, even though she was older now. Noire would tease her for it sometimes, saying she should have outgrown that fear by now. </p>
<p>When Uni was younger, Noire would always be there for her whenever it was a bad thunderstorm. It would remind her of when she would cower behind her big sister as the rain beat against the windows with the bright flashes of lightning and loud thunder echoing across the sky. She always hated it.</p>
<p>Another rumble in the distance caused Uni to grip the sheets tighter. There was no way she could go back to sleep like this, much less know when the storm would end. She slowly crept out of bed, her favorite blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Leaving her bedroom and walking down the large corridor, she sought out her sister’s room. A flash of lightning through the windows of the hall made Uni freeze in place, almost paralized in fear. Thunder quickly followed, Uni’s breath hitching as she covered her ears and dropped her head. She mentally scolded herself for how childish it was, but she couldn’t help but be afraid. </p>
<p>She regained her composure before continuing down the hall. Reaching the large set of double doors, Uni slowly opened one of the doors as quietly as she could, peeking her head in. By now, her eyes have adjusted to the dark and she could see her sister sleeping undisturbed at the far end of the room. Sometimes she didn’t know how Noire could even sleep through such a scary storm.</p>
<p>At the same time, Uni didn’t want to wake her up for such an invalid reason. She felt like she would be bothering her for something so trivial. A fear she would have outgrown by now. 6 months ago, before the encounter against Arfoire and the anti-crystals, Noire would have told her to get over such a childish fear, sending her away without any sympathy. But now, after that incident, they had gotten a lot closer. Noire learned to appreciate her sister more and not give her such a hard time. Afterall, she risked a lot to come save her, and by doing so she unlocked the ability to access her CPU form.</p>
<p>Uni tiptoed quietly up to the side of Noire’s massively large bed. It could honestly fit at least 4 more people at best. “U-Um N-Noire..?” She called out quietly, the lack of response making her heart beat quickly, “N-Noire..!” She said a little louder, reaching a hand out and lightly shaking her shoulder.</p>
<p>The older girl groaned, still turned on her side with her back facing Uni. Uni tried again, whispering her name and shaking her. Noire lazily lifted a hand waving her away, not exactly aware of what was going on other than her sleep being disturbed. </p>
<p>Uni kept trying, scared of when the next round of thunder and lightning would strike. Noire groaned again, rolling to the other side, eyes now halfway open as she was more awake. </p>
<p>“What is it?!” Noire began angrily with a hushed voice, “Can’t you tell I’m trying to-!” She stopped when she saw her little sister at the side of her bed, a scared expression on her face with a blanket wrapped tightly around her. There were only a few reasons Uni would rarely show up in her room at hours like these.</p>
<p>“Is there a storm?” Noire asked and right as she did a flash of lightning illuminated the room, Uni flinched, her eyes squeezing shut when the thunder followed. </p>
<p>“C-Can I sleep with you..?” Uni asked hesitantly, opening her eyes and looking up hopefully at her sister. Noire’s gaze softened as she scooted to one side of the bed and pulled back the covers to allow her sister in.<br/>
Normally she would have scolded Uni heavily for waking her up for such a matter and kicked her out of her room. But now she saw that it legitimately terrified the girl even now and not just when they were younger.</p>
<p>Uni gratefully climbed into bed next to her sister, just being close to her giving her immediate relief. After all, as long as Noire was there everything would be fine. Despite the storm, she felt more at ease now and was able to fall back asleep.</p>
<p>—-</p>
<p>A loud tremor shook the bedroom, Noire instantly waking up. She knew there was a storm but she didn’t think it was that loud. Another rumble followed shortly, but this one shook the room even more. Noire quickly sat up, confused, she looked at her sister who was already awake but staying under the covers. Another shake to the room with the distant grumble sounding louder. Something definitely didn’t feel right. Noire threw the covers off herself, going to the large window at the side of her room.</p>
<p>Opening the curtains her eyes went wide with what she saw. Amongst the night lights of the city of Lastation, large pillars of smoke billowed from all over, fires in their place. The sky was heavily clouded with the clouds swirling together with an opening in the center. Suddenly, a large beam of light came crashing down from the opening, striking the ground below with a burst of light. The shockwave being sent through the air and shaking the room, loose items rattling and books falling off a shelf. This wasn’t a storm after all, it was some sort of attack. But why hadn’t Noire had any sort of notification about it?</p>
<p>“Uni, get to the emergency tunnels and do not leave here, do you understand me?” Noire instructed, partly closing the curtains and turning to her sister.</p>
<p>“W-Why..? What’s wrong?” Uni asked, quickly growing concerned. Noire was almost always serious and if she was telling her to go to the tunnels then something must be horrible wrong.</p>
<p>“Just do it! I have to go take care of this.” Noire said sternly, quickly getting dressed in something other than pajamas.</p>
<p>Uni left the bed and went to the window to look outside. She was met with the horrible sight of the city under attack. How did something so sudden happen without anyone knowing?</p>
<p>“Let me help Noire! I can transform now!” Uni begged her sister. Another large beam came down from the sky, crashing into another part of the city, the tremor shaking the room once more. </p>
<p>“No!” Noire denied, going to the large window and sliding open the balcony door, “Whatever this thing is, it’s way too big for you to handle just yet.” she said, transforming into her CPU form, gripping her longsword tightly. The doors to her bedroom swung open, one of the maids rushing in.</p>
<p>“Lady Black Heart, we have all of our defences set up here!” she reported, earning a nod from the goddess.</p>
<p>“Good, make sure it stays that way until I take care of this. And take Uni with you too.” Noire said before she jumped off the balcony, flying up into the sky using her hologram-like wings.<br/>
As she was getting closer to the clouds, another beam shot down. The sheer amount of force from the shockwave after the hit sent her flying backwards just a bit but she regained her stability before continuing. </p>
<p>The clouds got thicker the more Noire went up into them, she finally broke through and almost couldn’t believe what she saw. The source of the giant beams was a gigantic, robotic dragon in the sky. It’s entire body was metalic with glowing red eyes and large jaws with sharp teeth. It’s large metal wings kept it suspended in the air despite them not moving. She had never seen any monster quite like it, and the size was massive.<br/>
Creaking metal sounded loudly in the air as it began to open its jaws, a light from the back of its mouth growing. Noire had to quickly do something to stop it before it fired another lazer at her precious country.</p>
<p>She rushed forward, readying her sword in front of her. While the monster didn’t seem to notice her at first, Noire got close enough to plunge her sword in one of it’s glowing eyes, breaking it and sending sparks flying. The dragon let out a piercingly loud grinding screech, as if a bunch of rusty metal was scraping together. Noire dislodged the sword and moved back as the dragon began to move it’s massive arm to try and swipe at the goddess. It was faster than it looked for its size, Noire barely moved out of the way before she was hit.</p>
<p>“That was way too close! I managed to get one hit in but I don’t even know what its weak point would be!” Noire thought to herself, eyes scanning over the large creature to find anything she could attack with purpose. She managed to get one of its eyes so that would at least have created a blindspot. But now with its attention focused on her, she wasn’t sure how close she could move in again. Noire weighed her options, it was fast, but she was faster. She charged in again as the dragon let out another ear piercing screech, raising a hand to claw at her. Noire was able to dodge it as it swiped down.</p>
<p>“Perfect! I should have time to make the first move!” </p>
<p>Noire raised her sword, about ready to slash at the side of its snout when out of her peripheral she caught a glimpse of its other clawed hand coming towards her. She didn’t have enough time to react as she was hit with a force that felt of a thousand tons. It sent her flying back downward through the clouds. She glanced over her shoulder, bracing herself as she crashed into a skyscraper. Shattering through the glass and scraping against the floor before a wall stopped her. She let out a groan of pain, roughly coughing, a thin line of blood running down her chin.</p>
<p>“Damn! That thing has way too much force!” Noire forced herself to her feet, her muscles already aching even though she had been hit once. She’d dealt with tough enemies before, but this one might take the cake. She looked out the hole in the building, seeing a distant light in the sky growing brighter. Realizing the dragon was about to fire another beam, she ran toward the opening, jumping out and flying back up toward the source. The beam shortly fired back down to the earth, Noire moving out of the way just in time. </p>
<p>“Crap, I’m running out of ideas, how do I even kill this thing?!” Noire was back up to where the dragon was, minding her distance as she assessed the situation more, “I could just wait till the other goddesses hear about it- No, that would take too long. I’ve got to finish this now!” She readied her sword as the dragon drew its arm back, about to strike again.<br/>
Now that Noire had been readied, she darted to the left, swinging her sword as its hand came down, slicing through several of its fingers. The dragon roared seemingly in pain as it drew its hand back, the one working eye glowing redder. Noire’s confidence boosted with each hit, even though she only managed to hit it two times. It was better than nothing and she at least was adapting to the situation.</p>
<p>“As long as I keep it distracted, it won’t keep firing those lasers-” </p>
<p>“Noire!” A voice interrupted the goddess from her thoughts, she turned her head seeing her sister approaching her. </p>
<p>“Uni!-” In the short time she was distracted, the dragon had reached its other hand out, grabbing Noire out of the air. Its metal fingers beginning to crush her in its grip. It forced the air out of her lungs quickly as she struggled against it. </p>
<p>---</p>
<p>“Miss Uni, Lady Black Heart instructed you not to leave!” A maid protested as Uni ran down the hallway.</p>
<p>“I know that! But I can’t just stand around while my sister is out there!” Uni shouted back, ignoring everyone that tried to stop her from leaving. She felt useless sitting around and waiting while chaos happened outside. She had to at least do something to help her sister out, regardless of what it was.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>“Noire!” Uni shouted as she saw the giant dragon grab hold of her sister. She quickly raised her large rifle, aiming through the scope. Clicking the trigger, the rifled fired, sending the green laser rapidly through the air, shooting right through the wrist of the dragon. It let out a pained screech, letting go of Noire who quickly put distance between herself and the monster.</p>
<p>“Uni! What are you doing here?! I told you to stay back!” Noire scolded her sister. She was furious, what if the monster had attacked Uni instead of her? There was no way she could handle a blow like that. The hit Noire took already affected her greatly but she pushed through with adrenaline and determination.</p>
<p>“I want to help you somehow! I can’t just sit around and do nothing!” Uni retaliated, although after seeing the sheer size of the dragon they were dealing with, deep down she was having second thoughts. She had never seen a monster that big, let alone fought anything that was remotely close to its size. She pushed her fear to the side, ready to help her sister in any way. </p>
<p>Noire grit her teeth in frustration, she didn’t have time to argue. The first priority was figuring out how to deal with this monster. They had an advantage from the left side, and if they could take out it’s other eye, it would be much less of a threat. At least now she had a bit of help from Uni that aided them in long range attacks.</p>
<p>“Uni! Shoot at it from the right side and distract it while I move in from the left! It has a blind spot there! When it moves its attention to me, aim for the eye!” Noire instructed.</p>
<p>“R-Right!” Uni nodded, aiming through the scope of her rifle. She began to fire off shots as Noire began to move in. The monster roared angrily as it looked in Uni’s direction as she kept firing. </p>
<p>As Noire got closer, she began to shout, “Hey you big metal turd box!” as planned, the dragon turned its head in the direction of the goddess. Uni was scoped in, aiming for its right eye, trying to steady herself for an accurate shot.</p>
<p>Noire glanced over at her sister, her eyes widening. It felt as though time had stopped. The dragon raised its left hand, swiping it towards Uni who was unaware. This was bad, really bad. She had to do something before Uni was killed, but she didn’t have a lot of time. Her CPU processor kicked into overdrive, something she would only do in extreme situations as once the heightened effects wore off, she would be significantly weak and at risk for transforming back.<br/>
Noire kicked off a translucent pixelated wall, rushing toward her sister as the clawed hand of the monster drew closer. Right as Uni fired the shot although it missed as she was knocked back harsly by an unknown force, the hand of the monster just barely swiping past her, the breeze rushing past. Noire had her arms tightly around her sister as she had pushed her back just in time. </p>
<p>“Noire..?!” Uni exclaimed, having had no time to react in that moment, having not noticed that her sister moved her out of the way of danger, “W-Wait, you’re in overdrive!” she pointed out, seeing the glow of the LED’s of Noire’s outfit and sword edge being brighter.</p>
<p>Noire panted catching her breath, “I-I know, I don’t have a lot of time left like this so we gotta finish it now.” she said, the sensation of her powers feeling too high and too low at the same time almost feeling unbearable. It was only a matter of minutes before the overdrive would stop and she’d transform back. That first hit earlier took a lot more out of her than she expected.</p>
<p>The dragon let out a loud roar, Uni spotting something unusual when it opened its mouth. At the back of its throat was something that was glowing blue. “That has to be its weak spot!” Uni said, pointing at the dragon. There was no mistaking it, any other attack was hardly doing anything. Noire began to think of another plan, all they had to do was get it to open its mouth and Uni could fire a shot. </p>
<p>“I’ll get it to open up, the second you have the chance, I want you to shoot, got it? How far can you shoot that thing?” Noire asked, readying her sword and thinking of how she should approach the dragon.</p>
<p>“It’s most effective at about two thousand meters.” Uni answered confidently.</p>
<p>“Okay good, that way you’ll be out of range of its attacks but still be able to land a shot. Get ready.”</p>
<p>Uni nodded, holding up her rifle as Noire charged forward with even more speed than before. Using overdrive could catch it off guard as she already easily dodged the dragon’s first attempt to swipe at her. She flew a little higher before descending quickly, pointing her blade downward.<br/>
The blade pierced through the top of the dragon’s head, stopping at the hilt. It painfully roared as it violently shook its head back in forth, Noire struggling to hold on to the handle of her sword. Her finger slipped and she was thrown back and away from the monster.</p>
<p>While the dragon was still screeching with its mouth opened, Uni took a deep breath, gazing through her scope. She zeroed out any distractions, any noise, hearing her heartbeat in her ears as she steadied the rifle. “Got you.” she muttered as she clicked the trigger, the rifle recoiling from the shot and slide going back to eject the cartridge. </p>
<p>The green laser traveled through the air, striking the blue target dead on which caused an immediate explosion. The first one set off a train reaction of bursts all down the dragon’s body as the monster continued to roar loudly as it was destroyed from the inside out.<br/>
The final explosion sent a massive shockwave and scraps of metal through the air. It was so intense it threw the two of them back with an almost unstoppable amount of force. Noire could feel her power draining rapidly but she managed to grab hold of her sister mid air as they plummeted back toward the ground. She looked back up at the sky that was filled with smoke with residual orange and red from the explosion dissipating through the thick clouds.<br/>
Before she knew it, a piece of metal came right at her. Noire put an arm up to try and stop it, the broad side of the large sheet metal slamming right into her. The goddess glanced behind her, realizing that they were about to collide with a building. Noire turned her back to the building so she could crash into it first and take most of the impact.<br/>
The breath was instantly knocked out of her as the two effortlessly broke through the concrete walls with glass smashing around them. The first hit was enough to break Noire’s CPU form as they were sent through another wall with more metal and debris from the explosion following, eventually the two skidding to a stop. </p>
<p>Uni propped herself up from the ground, coughing as the dust from everything finally settled. She groaned in pain as she was forced to transform back from her CPU form. Her body immediately felt more exhausted as she tried to wrap her head around things. Other than the initial pain from the impact, she felt okay everywhere else, not too badly injured. Based on that explosion, they defeated the monster for sure.</p>
<p>“Noire, we did it..!” she exclaimed, looking up and seeing her sister lying on her stomach a short distance away from her. Uni slowly got to her feet and stumbled her way over, “Noire?” no response. She knelt down, shaking her shoulder, still getting no reaction, “Big sis, come on, we did it..!” Uni said, growing more worried by the second. Suddenly, she felt something wet touch her knees, she looked down and realized there was blood pooling underneath her. </p>
<p>“Noire!” Uni yelled, carefully turning her sister over on her back, her usual neat hair disheveled with blood running down her hairline. Uni looked down and was horrified to see a piece of scrap metal sticking out of Noire’s abdomen. She quickly pulled her phone out except the screen was shattered and it wasn’t turning on, “Somebody help!” she screamed out even though no one was around and she didn’t know who could hear her.<br/>
Next, she took out the handkerchief she always carried on her, pressing it to the wound. It was too small to cover much and blood soaked through it instantly. The longer she saw Noire in this state the more panicked she became even though she tried to tell herself that freaking out wouldn’t get her anywhere.</p>
<p>“Someone! Anyone! Please help!” she continued to yell until her throat felt scratched raw. “Anyone... “ she said much quieter, her voice catching in her throat as her vision was blurry from tears, “...please…” she lowered her head squeezing her eyes shut and crying more, feeling utterly helpless.<br/>
“I’m so sorry Noire.. This is all my fault, if only I had stayed behind and not gotten in the way…” Uni berated herself, anger now mixing with sadness. Why had she been so stupid like that and left when she wasn’t supposed to? In the end Noire risked almost everything just to save her, if only she never went…</p>
<p>The young girl continued to cry when she felt a warm hand on her back, prompting her to look up. Noire was looking down at her through half lidded eyes, half a smile on her pale face.</p>
<p>“What are you talking about..?” Noire spoke although quietly, “Without you there I probably wouldn’t have been able to beat that thing..” she admitted, wincing from the sharp pain she felt in her side. She didn’t think such a fight would put her in a state like this, but as long as Uni was okay then she was fine with it..</p>
<p>“Really..?” Uni asked in disbelief, wiping the tears from her eyes.</p>
<p>“Yeah…” Noire answered honestly, “I’m really proud of you, ya know..?” her voice barely coming out as a whisper as her vision was slowly getting darker. Her hand slid off Uni’s back, the young girl grabbing hold of it tightly.</p>
<p>“W-Wait, Noire! H-Hold on please..!” Uni cried out as her sister slipped unconscious yet again. She didn’t want her to leave, not just yet, she felt like she couldn’t do anything without her big sister there. It was too early to say goodbye just yet.</p>
<p>Suddenly, Uni could hear voices shouting from within the building, she looked down a hallway to see beams of light sweeping around. The voices of the people got closer, Uni recognizing them as guards from the Lastation headquarters. She could hear distant sirens going off as they carefully evacuated the two of them, Noire being rushed to the hospital.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>“Alrighty Noire, say ahhhh!~”</p>
<p>“I can feed myself you know!”</p>
<p>“Aww come on! Just open up!”</p>
<p>“Get away from me! Besides, I don’t think pudding is what I should be eating right now!”</p>
<p>“Psshhh, you’re still a big meanie pants after all that, Noire?” The short purple-haired goddess teased as she ate the spoonful of pudding herself.</p>
<p>“I am not!” Noire denied, crossing her arms over each other and glaring at Neptune who sat on the edge of her bed. </p>
<p>From across the room, Uni and Nepgear watched the whole thing unfold, Neptune seemingly never giving Noire any sort of break even while she was still recovering from being home from the hospital.</p>
<p>“Sorry about that..” Nepgear laughed nervously as she apologized for the behavior of her older sister even though Neptune tended to act like the younger sibling. </p>
<p>“No, it’s okay.” Uni smiled, “I’m just glad that she’s acting like herself again.” she observed her older sister as she tried to shove Neptune away from her who was still trying to force feed her pudding. After everything that happened she had been nothing but worried for Noire. She was kept in the hospital for at least a week to recover, now being able to finish up healing at home. She was glad nothing too bad happened to her.<br/>
The bedroom doors opened, Vert holding a tray and Blanc walking in holding grocery bags followed by Rom and Ram running in past them.</p>
<p>“I brought the tea, everyone!” Vert announced in a sing-songy voice, setting down the tray at a coffee table next to a couch at one end of the room. </p>
<p>“We picked up some of your favorite snacks, Noire.” Blanc stated in her usual monotone voice, setting the grocery bags down. </p>
<p>Rom and Ram ran up to the edge of the bed, Ram holding out a small stack of books, “We got you some cosplay books too!” Rom said cheerfully, the two twins smiling.</p>
<p>Everything caught Noire off guard, as she almost never received gifts or gratitude of this degree from anyone. “You didn’t have to do all of this you know!” she chastised angrily although the blush on her face contradicted it. “...but thank you…” she added quietly, looking off to the side.</p>
<p>“Ooohhh! You are such a tsundere Noire, if only you could see your face right now!” Neptune laughed at how obvious she was being.</p>
<p>“W-What? I am not!” Noire denied but wasn’t sounding very convincing. Everyone joined in on the laughter as the dark haired girl tried not to die from embarrassment. In the end, Noire never would have thought she would end up with friends like these. Not that she would ever admit that.</p>
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